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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

How to Make a Collapsible LED Light-up Bo Staff for under $30

*****UPDATE: 3/5/2013******
I've dramatically improved the strength and sleekness of the design, and I also made the staff compatible with the $1 finger LEDs from Amazon.
See a new video here.

And you can now buy yours (DIY kit or full staff) directly on my site, techneesh!
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I had about 15 people come up to me over the weekend (at Electric Forest // Rothbury) and ask me where I got my LED staff and how much I paid for it. It seems I'm not the only one frustrated that there's only really one LED staff on the market and it costs about $180!

So, here are instructions to make your own collapsible LED bo staff for about $25!

Building requires about 15 minutes time, a trip to Home Depot, and the custom translucent pieces I made (you can buy them with the button below and you will get them in 2-3 days).

1. Gather the following supplies:

(from top to bottom, left to right)

2x 2' long 3/4" thick PVC pipe (pre-cut at Home Depot) - $1.39 ea/

3x Glow Wands (can find at Sears, Home Depot, Amazon, etc) - $2-5 ea/

Electrical tape (whatever colors you prefer) - $3 ea/

Translucent endcaps, middle, & connectors - $19 - I made these myself, click the button below to buy them and I will ship out USPS priority (so you will get them in 2-3 days :)

2. Remove the LED + battery assembly from the glow wands, and secure the batteries in place with electrical tape:

3. Place the LED inside my translucent connector pieces and assemble them like this:

4. Wrap the PVC in whatever tape you'd like, or paint it whatever color(s) you wish:

5. Now pop in the endcaps and connect the two PVC pieces with the middle piece!

6. Congratulations! You now have a lightweight, collapsible, awesome-looking LED staff you made yourself for under $30 :)

Here's what it looks like in the dark:

For extra stability, you can use some extra electrical tape to secure the middle piece to the PVC. Most glow wand LED lights will last 60+ hours with continuous (and bright!) lighting :)

Please let me know what you think in the comments!

If you'd like me to make the entire staff for you, fill out this form and I'll ship it out within 48 hours!

In the newest design (that uses the LED finger lights) I included a slot so that you can access the switch after assembly - and I include a set of 'keys' you need to get in there - see my youtube :)http://www.youtube.com/user/Triskite

I'm happy to do a custom order. I assume you're asking to connect 3 middle pieces together, is that right?

It will hold together well, but I haven't tested how durable that configuration is for hard falls/drops. The good news is even if you do break it, you will be able to reassemble into the regular configuration (or with 2 middle pieces, etc). Further, if you send me a picture I will replace the broken piece half off.

I designed them using 3D CAD software, then 3D printed them... Send me an STL file and I'll see if I can print it - otherwise shoot me a link to a photo of what you'd like the end caps to look like and I'll see what I can do. Note that I have changed the design since posting these photos.http://techneesh.com/#bovinci

the middle third of the staff normal but the other thirds are fishtailed I couldn't find a picture but if you look up fishtail pommels it looks really similar but the staff is stretched and doesn't flare out till the last six inches

hey! I noticed the past comments have been years and years ago, but are you still currently selling this product? I'm curious about making my own and possible having to buy the connectors, I might just get lazy and want to just buy the whole thing already made!